Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Priest Asserts U Foreign” Church Is To Progress In Asia Aspect Of Major Bar SANTE FE, N. M., — The Catholic Church must become embodied in the very culture of Asia to make its impact felt on that continent, a Benedic tine priest from India said at the Catholic Art Association convention here. Father Bede Griffiths, O.S.B., said the major stum bling block to this goal is that the Asian peoples regard the Church as “foreign,” primar ily because it is Latin in liturgy, theology and canon law. Father Griffiths, stationed an experimental Benedictine monastery in Kuricumala, In dia, spoke (Aug. 14) after re ceiving the art association’s gold medal award for his “out standing contribution to ecu menism in the East.” The British-born Benedictine became a convert to Catholici sm in 1931, was ordained a priest in 1940 and served at Benedictine monasteries in England before being assigned to the monastery in India. Father Griffiths spoke of the Church in relation to Asia in general but stressed the chal lenge it faces in India. He said that although the Church is shedding “her colon ial trappings” and becoming adapted to social customs to modern India, “it still remains unbelievably European.” “The churches are still Go thic or baroque, the altar furn ishings, statues and pictures either imported or imitated from European models in the worst style,” he continued. “But more serious than this is the fact that not only in ex ternal appearance but also he interior formation of the Church remains essentially Western and therefore for eign. “This is due to the simple fact that the Church is Latin; Latin in its liturgy (which in a land where the majority is still illiterate is completerly unin telligible), Latin in its theory and Latin in its system of can on law. This means that the Church remains completely cut off from the traditions of Indian culture.” Asserting that this is the sit uation confronting the Church not only in India but “in all Asia today,” Father Griffiths then asked: “Can we wonder that the Church appears in the eyes of many people in a foreign sect, alien to the life and thought of the people? Can we wonder that in five centuries, with ev erything in its favor, it has not succeeded in winning more than two per cent of the people to its Faith?” He said that in Asia the Church “has to face a world which belongs to a totally dif— /I DOWNTOWN SAVANNAHS Newest And Finest Manger Hotel HOME OF THE FAMOUS PURPLE TREE LOUNGE AND COLONY RESTAURANT By Four Seminarians’ Children Given Glimpse Of World They Never Knew The Southern Cross, August 15, 1963—PAGE 3 Obituaries ferent cultural tradition,” and this “will be found to consti tute the greatest challenge to the Church in the coming cen turies.” The Benedictine priest stated that the ancient cultures of the East, especially that of India, “are intimately bound up with religion,” and this is one rea son why the church has found it difficult to come to terms with these cultures. “To make contact with In dian culture is to make contact with Hindiusm,” he continued, and the attitude of the Church until recently has been that Hin duism is a false religion which is to be avoided like the plague by a Christian. It is here clear ly that the most fundamental change is required. It is a ques tion of how the Gospel message itself is to be presented. ‘As long as we try to present the Gospel message as something opposed to the re ligion and culture of India we are doomed to failure. We have to learn to understand the Indian mind, its art and philosophy and, above all, its religious aspira tions, and to present the Gospel in its vital relation to this liv ing tradition.” Father Griffiths said this calls for an approach similar to the ecumenical movement in the West “by which we try to understand the traditions of our separated brethren.” There is need now, he said, of an ecumenical movement in religion by which we seek to discover what is the common ground in the different religious traditions of mankind and then in the light of this understand ing to comprehend all these dif ferent religious traditions in their vital relationship to the living Christ. He referred to this as “the great task of the future,” and as being in a sense a continu ation of the work begun by the Second Vatican Council. “The Church,” he stressed, "has to renew herself in depth, to recover the essential form of her doctrine and discipline, purged of all the accidental ac cretions of the centuries, so that she may appear in all her uni versality, her essential catholi city, not bound to any particular form of language or culture, but open to all mankind, and able to adapt herself to the needs of human society in the East as in the West.” In the work of “incarnationin the culture of Asia,” Father Griffiths stated, the Church has * 1 a very clear guide’ ’ in its early history. He said “the Church of the first five centuries provides for us a model of the development of the liturgy, the theology and the canon law of the Church in the midst of a pagan environ ment, which it was able to assimilate a new culture, while yet retaining its essential form and message unchanged.” Father Griffiths singled out the Syrian Church (separated from unity in the fifth century) By Newell Schindler (N.C.W.C. NEWS SERVICE) NEW ORLEANS, La.—Doz ens of restless children ga ther at a recreational center here each morning, eagerly awaiting the arrival of four young men in black trousers, white shirts and black ties. The children live in multi- storied apartment buildings, in a community and society which seem worlds away from the nearby residential sections. The young men dressed in black and white—four students from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans—are conducting a Catholic Living Program in the Florida Avenue public hous ing project. The housing units provide a place to live for 2,300 persons, many of whom otherwise would be living in slum or near-slum dwellings because of economic pressures. But like many such projects, there is little provi sion for recreational and social outlets. It is almost as if this com-' munity were walled off from the rest of New Orleans. * ‘The people have little con tact with outside areas, and the outside areas have little contact with them,” said seminarian Crosby Kern, 24. Working with Kern in the pro gram are seminarians Michael Aymami, 26; Elmore Chauvin, 23; and Gerard Prinz, 24. “Many of the kids don't know what it is to leave the project, continued Kern. “We take them downtown (to the business dis trict) and they want to know if we’re still in the city,” Seeing that the children in the program get out of the project at least once a week—a trip to the zoo, to the park, a cultural tour—is one of the activities of the seminarians. Other programs include handicrafts and athletics, and sewing for the girls. A touch of doctrinal training is thrown in. * 'Many of the kids don’t know what religion is,” said Kern. ' ‘The doctrinal training is very basic, as those participating in the program are of many faiths.” ?wnc)p *»* t The summer-long experi mental program, sponsored by Associated Catholic Charities, also includes projects for mo thers and for senior citizens. ' ‘We try to encourage parents to use what means they have available to make life more meaningful, and to encourage their children to better them selves,” said Prinz. * 'By getting together and ex changing ideas they discover ways to improve the appearance of their apartments, even within their limited incomes,” said Kern. “And there is an exchange of ideas on the many problems of raising children.” Many senior citizens of the area haven’t had a reason to get out in years. Now they gather once a week for a bingo game and chitchat. Through the Catholic Living Program, Catholic Charities hopes to collect information that may be useful in solving social problems that are common to people of the housing project. Many people are not even aware of the social agencies which might help them with their problems. The seminarians di rect them along these lines. Perhaps the food, clothing and toys collected by the young seminarians through donations and distributed in needy cases are some consolation. Residents of the “walled-in” community were a bit dubious of the intrusion by outsiders at first, but have come to accept the seminarians and respect their objectives. ‘ ‘You can see some change of attitude on life in the young peo ple,” said Kern. “They seem to be taking more interest in being neat and combing their hair.” The program hasn't enough to provide much activity for teen age boys, but several of them come by the Family Living Cen ter each afternoon just to talk. “They’re interested in bet tering themselves,” said Kern of the boys, who still attend school. “They talk about getting jobs, or going in the service to get some kind of occupational training. They don’t want to make the mistakes that some have made. It’s encouraging. “They’re all good people,” he added. “Circumstanceshave thrown them against the wall. Mrs. Sarah Baughn McEllinn SAVANNAH — Funeral ser vices for Mrs. McEllinn were held in the Chapel of the Ca thedral of St. John Baptist Aug ust 8th , Father Lawrence A. Lucree officiating. She was the widow of James D. McEllinn. Surviving are a sister, Mrs. Marie Coveney; two brothers, H. C. Baughn of Jacksonville, Fla., and Sidney Baughn of Savannah, and sev eral nieces and nephews. Mrs. Lucy Kiene Rector SAVANNAH — Funeral ser vices for Mrs. Lucy Rector were held August 7th at Bles sed Sacrament Church. Survivors are three brothers, Charles A. Kiene and Thomas A. Kiene, both of Savannah, and J. T. Kiene of Columbia, S. C.; three sisters, Mrs. Arthur W. Chandler, Mrs. Bernard J. Dea- son and Miss Elsie Kiene; several nieces and nephews. SEMINARIANS RUN RECREATION PROJECT— At a housing project in New Orleans, seminarians sp§®d their summer vacation aiding the children to find healthful recreation. Once a week the youngsters are taken on an outing away from the crowded project. Some of them rarely ever leave the community within a city. In this picture seminarian Michael Aymami supervises a ball game for young residents of a project. - (NC Photos) News Copy At 1,000 Words Per Minute Shades Of Alexander Graham Belll Mrs. Margaret DuFour SAVANNAH — Funeral ser vices for Mrs. MargaretD. Du- Four were held August 10th at Sacred Heart Church. Survivors include two daugh ters, Mrs. J. William Lang, Berkeley Heights, N. J.; Mrs. W. Robert Little Jr. of New York; a son, Richard L. Du- Four of Savannah; two sisters, Mrs. Joseph R. Mahoney of Savannah and Mrs. Charles L. Adams of Macon; two brothers, Dennis Doyle and Richard L. Doyle, both of Savannah; four grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. i University Meeting WASHINGTON, (NC) — Some 50 heads of Catholic univer sities from various coun tries will attend the triennial meeting here September 1 to 7 of the International Federation of Catholic Universities. The meeting will be the fed eration’s first in the U. S. and will take place at the Catholic University of America. The university’s rector, Msgr. Wil liam J. McDonald, first Ameri can president of the federation, will preside. Topics to be discussed in clude “Christian Western Cul ture and Oriental Civilization and “The Establishment of Ca tholic Universities in Develop ing Countries.” Mrs. Kate Cleary Broderick SAVANNAH — Funeral ser vices for Mrs. Kate Cleary Broderick were held August 8th at Blessed Sacrament Church. Survivors are a daughter, Mrs. Julia B. LeFeBvie of De troit, Mich.; three sons, Jo seph M. Broderick Jr., and William C. Broderick, both of Savannah, and Charles J. Brod erick North Charleston, S. C.; two brothers, George J. Cleary and Henry A. Cleary; sev en grandchildren, nine-great- grandchildren and a number of nieces and nephews. Mrs. Francesca Mancinelli LOUISVILLE —Funeral ser vices for Mrs. FrancescaMan- cinelli who died in Louisville, were held in Lynn, Mass. Sur vivors include two daughters, Mrs. Mary A. Ansley, Louis ville, Mrs. FlorenceR. Fernan des, Malden, Mass.; one son, George P. Mancinelli, Lynn, Mass., and six grandchildren. Carl H. Heise SAVANNAH—Funeral ser vices for Mr. Carl Heise of Sa vannah Beach, were held Aug ust 10th from the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. Survivors included his wife, Mrs. Ann Morton Heise; two sisters, Mrs. Michael Ganey and Miss Ruth Heise; a bro ther, Ernest R. Heise; and two nephews. Mrs. Agnes E. Kenny SAVANNAH — Funeral ser vices for Mrs. Agnes Kenny who died in Savannah, were held in Chicago, Ill. Survivors include two daugh ters, Mrs. 1 F. W. Trudell of Savannah, and Mrs. Mary Gar land of Wisconsin; two sons, Henry T. Kenny Jr., and An thony G. Kenny, both of Chi cago; and f ou r g randchi ldren. DENVER (NC)— Telephoning at the rate of 1,000 words a minute! Shades of Alexander Graham Bell! But that’s what can be done with the new Data Speed equip ment developed for high speed tramsmission which now links, the Register system of news papers here with theN. C, W, C, News Service in Washington, D. C-, and the Register Office with stations in Green Bay, Wis consin, Cincinnati, Lafayette, Brunswick 7! TV SERVICE Glynn Electronics 2423 NORWICH AM 5-7669 in South India as “an example of a Catholic Church withadistin- tive Oriental liturgy, springing from a Christian tradition which is quite different from that of the Greek and Latin.” “In the first place, like all Eastern liturgies, it is open to the vernacular,” he continues, “and (this) is in fact now cele brated in Malayalam . . .inboth the Syrian Rites, Eastern and Western, which are used in Ker ala,” India. “This use of the vernacular— which we may confidently expect will soon be extended to the Latin Rite—is, of course, the indispensable preliminary to the acclimatiation of a lit urgy,” he added. “Once the vernacular has been introduced,” he said, “the way is open to the development of native music,” and then one may hope that a sense of com munity will be awakened which will give birth to a distinctive form of art and architecture and so make the litury the expres sion of the life of the people.” Father Griffiths said that al though the Syrian liturgy is weak theologically, it “gives us an example of rites and cer emonies which are different from those of the Latin and Greek churches.” He pointed out that in India certain Hindu customs have been adopted in the marriage service. He said, however, that “the really important thing” is “that a liturgy should correspond with the habits of thought and feeling and expression which belong to the psycholoby of a particular people.” “Thus,” he added, “on the La., Peoria, Ill,, and Altoona, Pa. News copy is transmitted at the 1,000 word a minute rate over regular telephone lines from the N.C.W.C. News Ser vice in Washington to the Den ver office, The transmission is by an eight-channel tape, which winds on a reel. The punched tape is fed into an automatic typewriter which converts the tape punches back to the ori ginal “hard copy,” model of the Syrian liturgy . , . following the principles along which it has developed as an expression of a distinctively Oriental form of Christianity, we could hope to see a living liturgy in the Far East which could correspond with the cul tural habits of the people.” In conclusion, Father Grif fiths stressed again the need for Christians to seek to under stand other religions. “There is a hidden presence of Christ in every man calling him to union with himself,” he said, “and this presence is active in every religion, and in deed wherever reason and mor ality are to be found.” He said that just as “there is one movement of the Church which is visible in history,” so “there is also a hidden move ment of the Church going on in the hearts of men from the be ginning, drawing men to Christ without their knowing it, in Hinduism, in Buddhism, in Is lam, even in agnosticism and unbelief.” “It is only at the last day,” he stated, “that the full signi ficance of this movement will be revealed, but even now we can discern something of this hidden path of grace in the other religious of the world. Our ecu menical task is to cooperate with that mystery of grace, seeking to discover that pres ence of Christ in every relig ion and in every human soul.’ “In this task,” Father Grif fiths concluded, “we shall often find that we have more to learn than to teach, and that Christ has gone before us in tjie hearts of our brothers in religion.” The new system greatly cuts the time of transmission and preparation of copy over the formerly employed regular teletype hook-up between sta tions. Each station is equipped with a sender and receiver which allow for communications | between them. This is the way the trans-] mission works: Copy is typed on the automa tic typewriter producing the eight-channel tape. The tape is fed into the Data Speed sender which translates it into a varie gated series of musical tones that speed along regular tele phone lines. The receiver translates the tones into a pun ched tape that is fed into a computer. The computer reads the tape, separates the lines so they are equal on both mar gins and produces a new tape. The new tape is fed into auto matic typesetters which set the copy in type. Enthronement September 12 SAN DIEGO, CAL., (NC)— James Francis Cardinal Mc Intyre, Archbishop of Los An geles, will preside at the en thronement here September 12 of Auxiliary Bishop Francis J. Furey as Philadelphia as Coad jutor Bishop of San Diego. The ceremony will place in Immacu- lata church on the campus of the University of San Diego. 7T£ j ° ' IN AUGUSTA . . . MEMORIALS S.R. KELLY & SON, INC. PA 2-6972 MURPHY’S RADIO & TV SERVICE FAST SERVICE - FAIR CHARGES r Q />> I FAST MEMBER OF CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Pick Up And Delivery 1710 BULL AD 3-0985 In Savannah OGLETHORPE MARBLE & GRANITE CO. East Broad at Waldburg St. Irvine Henderson Home 3 cA Funeral ,o PH. AD. 2- 7181 Irvine C. Henderson Irvine C. Henderson, Jr. James E. Henderson, III 121 W. Hall St. SAVANNAH St. James Standard Dress Now In Stock Mothers Are Invited To See Our Complete Fall Selections For Boys and Girls SALE! 10% DISCOUNT ON ALL GIRLS WINTER OVERCOATS FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST Charge and Lay-Away Accounts Invited a* JiaMie DeRENNE SHOPPING CENTER EL 5-6820 Church In Africa SAN FRANCISCO, (NC)—A bright future for the Church in Kenya was predicted here by visiting Bishop CaesarM. Gati- mu, who has 30,0Qp persons now under instruction in his Nyeri diocese. Bishop Gatimu, a member of the Kikuya tribe, said his people have a high opinion of Ameri cans and give them credit for helping the trend away from colonialism toward indepen dence. But he said that on hear ing of discrimination in Ameri ca he was “scandalized, shock ed and confused.” Savannah’s Only Discount House DIXIE FURNITURE “ MART *Where Everybody Trades” 2517 Bull Street Savannah, Georgia Phone AD6-8616